The Jewish Community Center of the North Shore is about to launch its 31st Jewish Book Month Speaker Series. The program dives into Jewish literature and culture with author talks and community events meant to inspire meaningful conversations.
The series runs Oct. 16 through Nov. 21, at the JCCNS, with books written by Jewish authors or exploring Jewish themes. The first night will feature journalist Jane Eisner and her book, “Carole King: She Made the Earth Move.”
In an interview with the Current, Eisner said King’s complexities make her a fascinating subject.
“People know of her enormous success and impact in her professional life but her personal life was much more troubled as she married and divorced four different men, one of whom was abusive to her, and she lived in the Idaho wilderness for quite a few years away from the spotlight,” Eisner said. “I guess the other part of her life that I hope readers will learn about and appreciate is the actual originality of her music, how it might seem simple when you first hear it, but actually when you delve into the music itself, it is much more original and innovative than you might think.”
Eisner added that talking about music is a nice change of pace right now.
“I think that there’s so much strife and anguish in the political world in the United States, in Israel and other places. I think that people crave learning about another part of life and that is culture, and specifically music.”
Up next, on Oct. 23, will be A.R. Vishny, a New York-based author who is originally from Massachusetts and graduated from UMass Amherst. Her debut young adult novel, “Night Owls” blends folklore, romance and mystery.
“It’s fun,” Vishny said. “There’s a lot of joy there and I think part of my approach to the story was writing something that was in a genre that I’ve always loved, the YA vampire romance, but incorporating Jewish culture and history. It was so important to me and I found it so exciting.”
Another highlight will be Nov. 18 when beloved Alice Hoffman speaks about her powerful new novel, “When We Flew Away.” The book is about Anne Frank’s early life, published in cooperation with the Anne Frank House.
JBM Chair Margie Detkin, of Marblehead, says JBM remains as relevant as ever.
“JBM always brings up something that is timely and it always gets conversation going, and there are always people at the end of each author’s talk who raise their hands and want to ask questions about something that relates to what’s happening in the news,” she said.
JBM’s seven author events are open to the public, to listen and ask questions directly to the authors.
All ticket and event details can be found at jccns.org/jewish-book-month. The JCC is located at 4 Community Road.
